A continuation of events surrounding the drug war and related social issues of Baja California and Mexico. Keeping an eye on Seig Heil Trump. We are still trying to restore all blogs from 2006 which were hacked by Linton Robinson and his team, famous for supporting the Baja Trump Towers on one of his real estate sites. Highlights of Paris-Simone's favorite music !!

Maybe I should start a Go fund Me Page for Paris; we had a consultation with Dr. Jackson at the VCS in Kearney Mesa, and unfortunately because of her bone development it looks as though she will need either clips or a plate in her leg. Prior to the surgery however, this week we go back for her Cat Scan this week. Mike made one ramp, next weekend he'll make the other. The Doc suggested instead of buying an air mattress for her, just take our bed off the frame. So, the next 12-16 weeks at least it is going to be rough. After her surgery, she has to go in once a week for check ups.

Meanwhile, we renamed the Daca cat "Bob"(because "DACA" seemed to grim) and he is allowing us to hold him, the next thing is to get him into a carrier and take him in for shots, etc. My back completely healed but I twisted my ankle which is blown up like a balloon.

In other news, apparently the HOA here wanted to completely shut down the North Gate entrance, but Reuban & Carmen stopped them by handing them a letter from Caminos stating that no you just cannot shut off access from the Highway. I'll get the whole story later. Small earthquake (2.8) in TIJ Saturday night, but we didn't feel it.

"These
are some scary times. Scapegoating and Othering the most vulnerable
entities in our society to cover up the Trump administration’s own
crimes and distract from their sinister agenda. Going after critics of
the administration by issuing warrants that force anti Trump groups to
divulge who visited their site, demanding academics be investigated for
criticizing Trump, targeting immigrants, even legal ones, including
naturalized ones….this is all textbook authoritarianism.

His next priority is welfare reform, because as we all know the
reason this nation is bankrupt is because of people on welfare. He has
put banksters and corporate heads in charge of government agencies; or
more like threw such government agencies at them to devour, the members
of his cabinet misappropriate millions of tax payer dollars to fund
their own extravagant travels and the priority is to nickle and dime
poor people.

I cant believe how quickly this nation is disintegrating and how
slowly everyone is catching on at just how badly and quickly things are
going downhill. I am very alarmed by all this."

**********

The Fires....

There has not been local coverage here of the horrendous Northern California fires which are the result of climate change. This non-coverage surprised us, a few years back absolutely fed up with the drug war and violence here (imagine how I feel now) I kept looking at Calistoga as a possible refuge for retirement. I was delighted to see more of the conventional US media mentioning climate change as the cause. On the other hand, there has been coverage of NAFTA negotiations down here, unlike the US MSM. However, I have not read about any concessions for environmental regulations nor for worker's rights or improvement in the slave wages paid by the billion dollar corporations. And with Trump in power, I would not expect any improvements in those categories.

Here are just a couple of reports on climate change/global warming's relationship to fires:

" The increase in forest fires, seen this summer from North America to the
Mediterranean to Siberia, is directly linked to climate change,
scientists say. And as the world continues to warm, there will be
greater risk for fires on nearly every continent. "

" Increased forest fire activity across the western United States in
recent decades has contributed to widespread forest mortality,
carbon emissions, periods of degraded air
quality, and substantial fire suppression expenditures. Although
numerous factors
aided the recent rise in fire activity,
observed warming and drying have significantly increased fire-season
fuel aridity,
fostering a more favorable fire
environment across forested systems. We demonstrate that human-caused
climate change caused
over half of the documented increases in
fuel aridity since the 1970s and doubled the cumulative forest fire area
since 1984.
This analysis suggests that anthropogenic
climate change will continue to chronically enhance the potential for
western US
forest fire activity while fuels are not
limiting."

To hold you over, here is Telesur's coverage of Mexico's law against forced disappearances and Mexico's rank in the 2017 "Global Impunity Index" (both subjects covered by Zeta) and a report on the third anniversary of Ayotzinapa on their sidebar:

Speaking of Ayotzinapa locally there just has not been any coverage of the third year anniversary with the exception of La Jornada. Still, it is a subject which is not forgotten entirely although many think it has become taboo to speak of it, swept under the rug. Here is Ryan Devereaux's report from last month which is a must read: